Method of ornamenting a wooden article with metal foil



19? s. H. WIDIGS METHOD OF ORNAMENTING A WOODEN ARTICLE WITH METAL FOIL Filed Jan. 4.. 1966 United States Patent M Sweden Filed Jan. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 518,571 Int. Cl. B32b 3/00 US. Cl. 156219 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to methods of and apparatus for ornamenting articles, such as wooden picture moldings, frames, or the like. The apparatus includes cooperating rolls, one roll having a metallic rim and the other having a rim made of a heat resistant, resilient material such as rubber or a synthetic elastomer. The roll having the resilient covering preferably is heated. An article to be ornamented is placed between the rolls, the rolls are actuated, and pressure is exerted on the article by the rolls, whereby the desired ornamental impression is caused to be effected on the article. A tape of ornamenting material also may be placed between the article and one of the rolls. The tape preferably comprises a strip of plastic material having a thin layer of gold leaf, or the like, thereon. When such tape is used, the metal layer on the tape adheres to and covers the impression made by the rolls, thereby creating a pleasing ornamental effect. Means are provided for adjusting the relative positions of the rolls and the article being ornamented in accordance with the size and shape of the article so that the rolls engage and apply the desired pressure on the article.

The present invention concerns a method and means for ornamentation of a product especially of Wood and in particular picture mouldings. The method makes possible quick and economically advantageous ornamentation of picture mouldings, for example by gilding, painting or pretreating of wood for subsequent surface treatment. In this way great opportunities are presented for artistically bringing out the woods structure (graining) and thus enlivening the treated surface. Gold leaf or metal foil is ordinarily used for gilding of wooden picture mouldings, etc. These coating materials are supplied in sheet form and applied by hand to the surface of the moulding which is pretreated and coated with a special preparation. This method is very time consuming and expensive. In order to bring out the woods graining, special tools (wire brushes) are used to roughen up the mouldings surfaces before the ornamenting treatment proceeds.

British Patent No. 220,766 teaches a method for ornamentation of products, particularly picture mouldings of wood, which are treated in a press device furnished with a layer of soft plastic. However, the method uses a metal foil with a thickness which does not make it possible to utilize the technical effect achieved by the present invention. In addition the device used has no adjustment means for microsetting of the pressure applied and this is an essential prerequisite for obtaining the desired effect in the present invention.

The present invention can not use the previously known metal foils but must utilize a metal stratum laid on a plastic foil.

The present invention represents a modification of the method which is used in the bookbinding, leather and wood industries for achieving ornamentation and lettering of a base material. Thus it is previously known to produce ornamentation or configurations on wood for 3,540,960 Patented Nov. 17, 1970 example by first placing on the wood a gold or gold bronze coated plastic foil which is furnished with an adhesive layer on top of the metal layer. These layers on the plastic foil are very thin and their thicknesses in relation to the thickness of the foil are very small. The composite foil is usually called gold foil but since this name seems inappropriate a new name has been chosen, that is gold plastic foil, and this name shall be used in the following description. The stacked unit formed from the gold plastic foil and the wood product is subjected to a high pressing force by pressing a heated metal plate having the desired configuration against the stacked unit. In this way the gold plastic foil is pressed into the wood and the gilding is secured in the impressed configuration. Attempts have been made to gild picture mouldings by the same method (i.e. by pressing a heated metal plate against the stacked unit of wood and gold plastic foil), but this method has not been satisfactory and therefore has not been considered suitable for this purpose.

In the method according to the present invention a disk or roller is used as the press means. The surface of the press means facing the wood is furnished with a layer of rubber or some other elastomer which is temperature resistant and suitably soft. As in the above method a press means is used to accomplish the ornamentation which may comprise the bringing forth of the woods graining and/ or the application of a gold layer or any other coating such as paint or plastic. When gilding is involved the above mentioned gold plastic foil is used. The temperature of the press means may be between 20-170" C. (68- 338 F.) and is adapted to the coating material used. The wood product which is to be ornamented may be preheated. Preferably the gold plastic foil used in the method of the present invention is in the form of a tape furnished in roll form.

It is essential in carrying out the present invention to fully control the applied pressure so as to more or less depress the soft parts of the wood while leaving the hard parts (the annular rings) intact. It is not possible to use a press means of only metal because it would not have the ability to elasticity apply pressure to the softer parts of the Wood. The control of the applied pressure is accomplished with a microsetting. Also it must be possible in a regular way to adjust the position of the press means in respect to the surface being ornamented which are not always fiat but may be uneven.

It is also possible according to the present invention to handle several mouldings simultaneously, the width of the press means being correspondingly adapted and the number and widths of tapes being selected as required. It is also possible to carry out several ornamentations simultaneously by using several press means as well as possibly several cooperating support means. In such cases the surfaces to be treated may lie in different planes and form various angles to each other. The surfaces need not be plane but may be convex or concave such as in beads and fillets. The elastic coating on the press means is an important factor in accomplishing the invention and various coatings may be used, preferably rubber coatings of various thicknesses and hardnesses depending on the relief effect desired. A soft rubber coated roller produces a pronounced graining in the wood While a roller with a hard coating produces no graining. The object being treated between the rollers may in known ways have and/or have had the ornamenting material applied to it.

In order to more particularly describe the present invention a more detailed description of the method for carrying out the invention will be given and an embodiment of the means used will be described.

The press means used for ornamenting comprises two rollers in the form of two turntables turned on their sides. The turntables are mounted on a frame with their open ends facing a heat source. One of the rollers, e.g. the top roller in the present invention, is heated and includes a rubber coating. The source of heat may for example be a heat lamp mounted on the frame. The material used for ornamenting is supplied in tape form from a roll. This roll is mounted on a holder which is suitably located in respect to the upper roller. The lower roller is driven by a drive mechanism. The first step in the ornamentation procedure is an adjustment step. The wood moulding to be ornamented is inserted between the two rollers. If desired the moulding may have been preheated by means of a suitable preheating device such as a heat lamp, heating chamber or steam. With the aid of an adjusting means the roller pressure is set and a suitable mechanism provides for the proper positioning of the upper coated roller with respect to the surface which is to be ornamented. The desired degree of bringing forth of the woods veining is adjusted. When this is done the tape is drawn out and brought into contact with'the upper warm roller and inserted in between the rollers in contact with the wood moulding. According to the amount of preheating of the object being ornamented and also the temperature, pressure, and coating of upper roller, a more or less marked protrusion of veining of the object being treated can be obtained. With the aid of the device described in detail below for carrying out the invention, it is possible to bring forth the woods natural veining and thus in a striking manner to give life to the object in a way previously unattainable. The choice of coating for the upper roller depends on the desired result and can be determined with the aid of a series of trials. The pressure applied can be completely controlled and checked and may be set with a microsetting. The arrangement according to the invention has made it possible to effectively treat the surface of the Wood so that its annual rings protrude in a contrasting way wherein only the soft parts of the wood are pressed down while the harder parts remain in their original positions. To obtain this effect a great amount of precision is required. After being processed in this manner the moulding may then be surface treated.

Gilding of the wood proceeds in the following manner. In accordance with what was described above the moulding is fed between the heated, rubber coated press roller and the lower, driven roller which may be preheated. The roller pressure is set depending on the desired effect and the properties of the surface being treated. Also as stated above the type of rubber coating plays an important role in this respect. The contact time for the tape with heated roller, the temperature of the rollers, and the feeding speed of the moulding are variable factors. Thus the tape holder is movably arranged so that the contact point of the tape may be changed by more than 180. Other important factors are the roller coating material, the thickness of the plastic foil, as well as the metal layer and the type of adhesive used on top of the metal layer of the gold plastic foil. The temperature of the roller may be varied by merely changing the distance between the heat source and the roller. In addition suitable shielding or enclosing of the arrangement may be used to increase the heating effect. When all the factors are under control a gold coating is obtained which is far superior to any previously obtained by other methods. In addition the surface can according to desire be varied from a smooth form to one showing the maximum relief effect of the annual rings.

In carrying out the method according to the present invention it has been found that the relief effect brought about by the rollers can be enhanced by rendering permanent the depression of the soft parts of the annual rings while the object is still between the rollers. Suitably this may be accomplished by coating the moulding with a prepolymerized and quick hardening plastic. This coating may take place after the optional preheating of the moulding has occurred.

After passage through the rolls a hard surface is obtained which according to desire exhibits a more or less marked relief structure. If desired the surface may be sprayed in a known manner with ornamenting material.

A specific arrangement which may be used in carrying out the invention shall be more fully described below with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows the arrangement in perspective view,

FIG. 2 shows spring means to compensate for irregularities in the moulding and also a position limiting device, and

FIG. 3 shows an adjusting means for course setting of the height and inclination of the press roller.

The arrangement mounted on frame 1 is driven by motor 2 which by means of transmission 3 drives the feed and support roller 4. This roller is rotatably mounted on frame 1 and its upper section extends through opening 4' in a feed table which may be rigidly secured to frame 1. A second roller 5 is adjustably located above roller 4. Press roller 5, which is furnished with an elastic material 6 on its surface, is rotatably mounted on the frame by means of bearing tube 21 which lies within bearing sleeve 7 and is horizontally adjustable in said sleeve 7. Bearing sleeve 7 is movably arranged on a positioning plate 9 by means of adjustment arm 11 and lever arm 22 which are located on opposite sides of positioning plate 9.

Plate 9 is constructed with two locking devices 10, each comprising a bolt and a reversible washer 23, for setting the angle of roller 5. The placement and shape of washer 23 produces a fulcrum for positioning plate 9. As can be seen in FIG. 3 there is a counterboring in slot 10a in which a part of the washer can be received to give the above mentioned effect. If washer 23 is reversed this effect is omitted.

The design of locking devices 10 can be seen most clearly in FIG. 3. The locking device includes a bolt which extends through horizontal slot 10a in the positioning plate and is secured in frame 1 to hold plate 9 rigidly at the desired angle and height. Frame 1 includes a vertical slot 29 for height adjustment of positioning plate 9. Bearing tube 21, which is pivotally mounted in respect to frame 1 by means of pins 8 (of which one is shown in FIG. 1), is provided with an adjustment arm 11 extending substantially parallel to positioning plate 9 and the adjacent part of frame 1.

A spring device 12 in the form of spring-loaded screw is mounted on the low part of the adjustment arm 11. As can be most clearly seen in FIG. 2, this spring device includes a rotatable, threaded sleeve 24 which is screwed into adjustment arm 11. One end of sleeve 24 is furnished with a head 13 for turning the sleeve. The head 13 has a centrally located hole passing through it and this hole bears a graduated rod 14 located in sleeve 24. The middle part of rod 14 is furnished with a flange 15 whose diameter is somewhat smaller than the internal diameter of sleeve 24. A spring 16 is located around rod 14 between flange 15 and head 13 and acts to press rod 14 against positioning plate 9. A rotatable and adjustable position limiting device 17 is located above spring device 12.

A material roll 19 carried by material holder 22 is adjustably mounted via arm 18 on bearing tube 21 and is both axially and radially adjustable with respect to bearing sleeve 7. It is fixed in position by a suitable locking screw (not shown). Material holder 22 includes a shaft 26 and also a center bearing for the roll 19 of material. The center bearings width depends on the width of the material roll and is held in position by two adjustable stops 27 and 28 of which stop 28 is spring-loaded.

In order to securely fasten the metal layer on the moulding, an effective and uniform heating of roller 5 must occur. This may be obtained for example by means of heat lamp 20 the distance of which from roller 5 may be varied in order to regulate the amount of heating.

What I claim is:

1. A method of ornamenting a wooden article having a surface with relatively harder and softer surface areas, comprising: feeding the article to be ornamented between a pair of adjustably spaced press rolls, one of which rolls has a smooth elastomeric surface, in such a manner that the elastomeric roll surface contacts the article surface to be ornamented; depressing only the relatively softer portions of the article surface by maintaining a carefully predetermined pressure between the article surface and said elastomeric roll surface; advancing the article relative to the press rolls by rotating the rolls for impressing a design in relief on the article surface; maintaining the temperature of said one press roll in a range of from about 68 F. to about 338 F. by heating said one roll; and applying metal foil tape to the surface of the article by interposing said metal foil tape between the press roll and the article and causing the metal foil tape to adhere to and to conform to the design impressed on the article.

2. The method of claim 1 including rendering the depression of parts of the surface of the article permanent by applying a coating of hardening plastic material to the article surface.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said hardening plastic material is applied before applying said metal foil tape.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said hardening plastie material is applied after applying said metal foil tape.

References Cited JOHN T. GOOLKASIAN, Primary Examiner H. F. EPSTEIN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

